Sowkarpettai (2016)

For a horror film, Sowcarpettai is hardly scary. It is one of those cheaply produced, paint-by-numbers horror films that hopes to cash in on a trend, relying on tacky visual effects, an overloud score, and costumes and makeup that make the characters seem like poorly dressed guests at a Halloween party.

The plot takes off with Vetri (Srikanth) and Maya (Lakshmi Rai), who are about to get married, being murdered by Gothra (Suman, who, for some reason, is made to wipe his eyes every now and then like the Bond villain Le Chiffre that Mads Mikkelsen played in Casino Royale), a moneylender, who wants to take over their house. The lovers return as ghosts and start tormenting Gothra. Meanwhile, Shakthi, Vetri's look-alike brother and an evil tantric, is out to get Maya, whom he lusts after.

Given that the leads become ghosts very early into the proceedings, director Vadivudayan struggles to come up with plot points that could make the film interesting. We know straightaway that the villain stands no chance against two ghosts. And yet, he drags this plot beyond the interval point with comedy, involving the trio of Saravanan, Singam Puli and Power Star Srinivasan, that is excruciating. And then he realises that this might not be enough to cover the second half and so, introduces a sleazy Vaali-like set-up involving a brother who lusts after his younger brother's girlfriend. But the filmmaking in these scenes is so crude and vulgar. Whenever Lakshmi Rai is in the frame, the camera is often placed at voyeuristic angles. The dialogues are no better. When Maya begs Shakthi to leave her as she is a ghost, he says, 'Ponama irundhalum unna poratti paakanum'! Thankfully, the film is rate A, but there is no hiding the fact that the film, which seemed like a badly made TV soap that was sufferable despite the tedium, turns into something that deserves our contempt.